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Below you'll find Dr. Vettore's introduction to the Spring 2024 issue of Il Postino, the Graziadio Center's semesterly newsletter. To read the rest of this semester's issue, visit the Il Postino !

A Letter on what’s new at the Graziadio Center

Dear Friends of Il Postino,

Welcome to the Spring 2024 semester!

It is already March, and things are in full swing here at the Graziadio Center.

On February 7th, the Graziadio Center, in collaboration with the Clorinda Donato Center, RGRLL, and Università Roma3, organized a one-day event on the Telecollaboration program entitled Empowering Language Learners: Multilingualism And Motivation In Telecollaboration Programs. Professors Diego Cortés Velásquez and Elena Nuzzo (Roma3) gave a presentation and a hands-on workshop on telecollaboration. A roundtable with former participants enlightened our audience on the benefits of this pedagogical approach and a second roundtable, led by our instructors, focused on the future of this collaboration that started some six years ago. The event gave us food for thought and a clearer vision for the program’s future iterations. Meanwhile, it has been decided that our students of ITAL 100B, a class taught by Joanna Tatro, will participate in the Spring 2024 Telecollaboration.

On March 7th at 5:00 PM, Dr. Ilaria Tabusso-Marcyan (ASU) gave a talk entitled, “The Feminine Aspect in the Cultural Roots of Slow Food” in LA1-204 and via Zoom.

Dr. Tabusso-Marcyan examined the feminine aspects of Italian farming culture within recent Italian history and their influence in shaping the cultural foundations of the international movement of Slow Food. Ilaria’s presentation covered parts of her recently published book, The Cultural Roots of Slow Food: Peasants, Partisans, and the Landscape of Italian Resistance (Lexington Books, 2024).

Our last event for the semester will be a talk by renowned scholar Serenella Jovino (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) on Italo Calvino’s animals and the Anthropocene, the date and other details will be shared soon.

Last summer, some twenty students took advantage of our summer abroad program in Recanati and spent four full weeks of class in this beautiful, little town in the Marche region. They enjoyed the experience enormously and came back galvanized and ready to continue their studies in Italian at �°������ϲ�����. The importance of the Recanati program cannot be overstated, as it has historically helped us increase the number of our minors.

Program Assistant Diego Brol Batres is working to ensure that the new cohort will be as numerous and satisfied as the previous ones. He has toured high schools and community colleges to recruit students and has given presentations here at �°������ϲ����� to prepare students for their time in Italy. It looks like another 20 students will go to Recanati this summer!

This issue of Il Postino features interviews with our Majors, MA students, alumni, and, for our Faculty Spotlight, alumna and instructor Jaclyn Taylor.

All of them have spent time in Recanati or in Italy (Lesly Valtierra is currently studying at the Ca’ Foscari University, in Venice!). They are our best ambassadors in that they can share their experiences and passion for all things Italian. They all have their own personal perspective and a unique background, and it is a pleasure to have them share their thoughts and enthusiasm on the pages of our newsletter.

Thank you all for your contribution to Il Postino–we wish you the best for this semester and your overall academic career!

Next semester, we hope to have up to eight new BA students. Which means, if everything goes as planned, and we are doing our best to achieve that, we will have a total of 14 Italian Studies majors in Fall 2024! This is a sign of a positive trend that started last year and hopefully will continue for the semesters to come. Showing growth is a good sign, especially when many language departments struggle and are under scrutiny all over the country.

Club Italia is another tremendous asset for the Graziadio Center, as it works tirelessly to promote Italian on campus. We thank you for all your work!

With Lesly Valtierra studying in Italy, Club Italia was in need of a new Treasurer; their new lineup of officers is now:

Antonina Campbell, Ailyn Saavedra, Nikki Jerman, Alberto Sanchez Alonso, Maria Gabriela Tapia, and Josue Mendiola

To find out each officer’s role, look for the Club Italia section below! 

In addition to hosting Tavola Italiana (every other Wednesday at 5 in AS-384), they are also preparing an event to showcase how a BA in Italian can help you in your post-�°������ϲ����� life (and perhaps change it)!

We will provide details on this exciting event soon; please check your inbox and your social media accounts for flyers.

Buon semestre e a presto!